法苑珠林 28.36

28.36

Shi Faan of the Baoyang Daochang in the Eastern Capital during the Sui dynasty was surnamed Peng. He was a native of Chunya in Anding. Having renounced the world in his youth, he resided at the Jiulong Hermitage on Mount Taibai, taking the aspiration for dhyāna as his vocation. With coarse food and tattered robes, he lived until old age. Arriving in the Kaihuang era, he went to Jiangdu and asked to be announced to the Prince of Jin. The gatekeepers, considering his physique short and ugly and his speech and laughter flippant, would not announce him. Every day at the front gate, they tried to persuade him to leave, but he would not depart; they then made an attempt to announce him. Hearing of him, the Prince summoned him in, and they met like old friends; he then took up residence at Huiri. Wherever the Prince traveled, he was sure to bring him along as an attendant. When the imperial carriage visited Mount Tai, they suffered from thirst and exhaustion; looking around, there were only crags and no means of obtaining water. An stabbed a stone with a knife, drawing forth water that gushed out, using it to supply the Emperor. Everyone marveled greatly at the time and asked, 'What power brought this about?' He replied, 'It was brought about by the Prince's power.' He then followed the Prince into the desert sands, arriving at Ni Hai; whenever strange apparitions were due to be encountered, they were all avoided in advance, so that no harm or loss was sustained. Later, when going to Shentong Monastery on Mount Tai, a monk came to solicit a patron, and An conveyed this for him; the Prince personally wrote on the temple wall to patronize and protect it. When he first entered the valley with the Prince, An saw a monk wearing tattered clothes, coming mounted on a white donkey. The Prince asked who it was, and An said, 'This is Venerable Lang. He was the founder of Shentong, and thus has come to welcome and guide us.' When they reached the temple, they also saw a spirit, magnificent and huge in appearance, who stood on the lecture hall with his hands resting on the owl-tail roof ornaments, looking down at the crowd. The Prince asked about him again, and he replied, 'This is the spirit of Mount Taibai, who follows Your Majesty.' Thereafter, his many wonders cannot be recorded in full. At the beginning of the Daye era, the Emperor esteemed him even more. His majesty awed princes and dukes, so that all knelt upon seeing him. The attendants of the Three Guard Units served him like a spirit. Moreover, he went to famous mountains to summon recluses, so that Guo Zhibian, Master Zhi, Master Deng, and Baozhi (Beidu) all gathered together at once. In the Huiri Daochang, there were more than two thousand men of virtue and learning, and An was first among those supplied with the four requisites. Furthermore, the Baoyang Daochang was established for him in the Eastern Capital, where only An's assembly resided and established their vocation. In the spring of the eleventh year, when many difficulties arose in the four quarters, he died without illness at the age of ninety-eight. When he was about to pass away, he previously informed the Emperor, saying, 'One hundred days after An dies, a fire will break out from within the palace; you must be especially cautious.' When it came to the Cold Food Festival, boiling oil flared up and caught fire; in the middle of the night, the gates were locked, and palace women from three courtyards all died in the fire at once. The Emperor at that time did not consider it a strange coincidence; he escorted the coffin to Taibai, with supplies and expenses provided by the state. Yet An's virtue was concealed; inwardly and outwardly, he was like his companions. When sleeping, he did not use a pillow, and his neck did not bend. Stretching his neck before his bed, his mouth would stream with saliva, often more than a sheng at a time; whenever it was about to manifest an omen, miraculous signs were obtained in each case.